At least 3,500 steel workers have begun a strike at the plant to demand higher wages on Monday. Guards used tear gas on hundreds of striking workers who were trying to storm a factory owned by the ArcelorMittal Galati steel company in eastern Romania.

The company is offering a monthly increase of 100 lei ($44; euro28) for those earning the lowest salaries & a percentage increase for those on higher salaries. The union wants each worker to have a monthly increase of at least 280 lei ($123; euro78).

Tibers said, “The all-out strike is legal. We are expecting more employees to join the protest”.

The plant employs some 13,700 workers. ArcelorMittal Galati is part of ArcelorMittal SA, the world’s largest steelmaker. It bought the plant from the Romanian state in 2001.